Hot-sauce lawsuit needs to chill out


There’s a lot at stake for Sriracha, the popular hot sauce brand that brings that extra fiery zest to chow mein, soup and hamburgers.

Wendy Fu | Daily Trojan

Wendy Fu | Daily Trojan

Huy Fong Foods, one of the most popular brands of sriracha, is currently at risk of shutdown after the city of Irwindale recently sued the company for alleged noxious fumes. Despite the severity of residential complaints, the entire matter is unworthy of being brought to court until more thorough investigations are conducted.

According to the Los Angeles Times, following 37 complaints from 18 households, the city of Irwindale sued Huy Fong Foods on Oct. 28 for emissions from the production of its hot sauces that allegedly cause residents to “cough, gag and complain of inflamed respiratory conditions.” The city’s earlier request for a temporary restraining order was denied on Oct. 31, and just last Friday, the ruling for the case was delayed — just as expected.

Mere health complaints by residents should not be the only evidence backing a city’s lawsuit against the company. The heartburn, headaches and bloody noses that have been reported in court documents sound severe, but not scientifically verified. A couple of inspections have confirmed the smells, according the Los Angeles Times, but it is not enough to track the odor back to the facility.

According to the Times, air sampling devices have been installed at the factory and through the neighborhood to find more proof — but to no avail, apparently. Spokesman Sam Atwood of the South Coast Air Quality Management District told the Times that data from the monitoring devices were extremely limited, and a sample from the factory contained ethyl acetate, a compound commonly emitted during food and beer production. The concentration found in the factory, however, was several thousand times below harmful levels. To trivialize the matter further, South Coast Air Quality Management District, an agency notorious for declaring odors public nuisances, has not yet found fault with the sriracha plant.

The city should not have taken such drastic measures before conducting a real investigation and obtaining real evidence. Not only does the suit seem uncalled for due to the blatant lack of evidence, but a possible shutdown would shake many fans of the hot sauce.

With an exotic flavor that has given the sauce almost rock star status among condiments, Huy Fong’s Sriracha is certainly deserving of its own food festival. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sriracha was virtually unknown five years ago, but today’s number of products that contain the hot sauce is more than twice the number in 2012, a rare doubling according to Lynn Dornblaser, a market researcher at Mintel Group who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. The company has made sriracha famous in the United States through its own unique version of the sauce.

Considering the shortage effects to businesses on a global scale, more investigation definitely needs to be done before calling this a case. So far, no reports have been made on the composition of the exhausts. There need to be investigations on the time of day the emissions are strongest, which could lead to a solution to the odors if the process could be run at night to minimize discomfort. And more importantly, there needs to be a follow-up by the South Coast Air Quality Management District on whether this counts as a real issue of airborne irritants or just a stench people dislike. That distinction makes a world of difference.

For now, the fate of Huy Fong Food’s delicious, profitable sriracha sauce hangs by a thread.

 

Valerie Yu is a sophomore majoring in  biological sciences and English. Her column “Heart of the Matter” runs Mondays.

Follow us on Twitter @dailytrojan 

3 replies
  1. Rich
    Rich says:

    So the city of Irwindale has no problems with the poor air quality from the Irwindale Speedway or the MillerCoors brewing factory located in the same city? Interesting

  2. David
    David says:

    Maybe you should read a bit on nuisance law before discussing what is essentially a nuisance law case. What are the legal issues involved? Lazy journalism, even for a columnist

  3. William Buttrey
    William Buttrey says:

    Should the airborne compounds actually be shown to be the cause of the respiratory distress experienced by the local residents, what should be the next step? If the smells were produced by something other than a food product, what method would be required to provide relief for those in the vicinity?

    I do not want businesses to be unduly penalized or restricted, but air quality is an important quality of life issue, particularly for those most directly impacted, even if it is only a “stench” that people do not like. Hot sauce fans should be able to be get their supply needs met without causing residents of the surrounding community to suffer because of it.

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